Game-board



No. 623,597. Patented Apr. 25, I899. J. G. ERICKSON.

GAME BOARD.

(Application filed June 8, 1898.)

(No Model.)

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JOHN G. ERIOKSON, OF LAKE PARK, IOWA.

GAME-BOARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 623,597, dated April 25, 1899. Application filed June 3,1898. Serial No. 682,456. (Nomodeh) To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OHN G. ERICKSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lake Park, in the county of Dickinson and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Game-Boards; and Ido declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in game-boards; and the object of my invention is to provide an interesting game-board on which a variety of new games may be played by two or more persons at a time and in which skill and chance are so fairly combined that the skilled has no undue advantage over the inexperienced player. This and other minor objects I attain by the novel construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a top or planview of my gameboard. Fig. 2 is a diametrical sectional View as on the line a a in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a top view of one of the shooters or large disks played with. Fig. 4 is a diametrical section of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a top view of one of the smaller disks, intended to be moved by shooting the larger disks against them. Fig. 6 is a diametrical section of the disk shown in-Fig. 5 and a portion of the game-table, showing the disk lodged in one of the pockets in the table. Fig. 7 is a detail view.

Referring to the various parts in the drawings by letters of reference, A designates the game-board proper, which consists of a thin circular disk of any desired size. About thirty inches in diameter is a good size.

13 is a circular band or rim fitted with its inside groove 0 upon the outer edge of the board A, which is thereby kept in its plane shape. As shown in Fig. 2, the rim B projects below the board to form a support or annular foot for the board, and also projects above the board and forms a guard, which at its inner side is lined with a feltring D of about triangular cross-section and presenting one of its corners toward the center of the board at a height to meet the disks moving on the board.

E are four staple-shaped pieces of sheet metal, (best shown in the detail side View, Fig. 7,) secured by nails or screws F at four equidistant points upon the ring 13, thus covering the joint or joints of the ring and giving it four ornamental division-points opposite the ends of the four radial division-lines G.

At the center of the board I secure a round post H, of which the lower portion is lined with a rubber ring I, and from its upper portion extend light radial wire arms or arches J, the outer ends of which are bent plumb down ward and secured in the board at equal distances apart and equally far from the center of the board in the circular line K, which I call the welrline, and the space inside of it the web. In said web, directly under the arches, I provide eight pockets L, which will usually be termed the inner pockets in contradistinction to the eight outer pockets M, which are located at equidistant points .radially between the inner pockets,

but in the annular space N, called the outer circle, between the base-line O and rim B of the board. The annular space P between the web-line and the base-line I call the field. the field into four equal parts, and aretherefore called the quarter-division lines,while the short radial lines Q divide the outer circle into eight equal parts,and are therefore called the eighth-division lines.

The plumb posts or vertical portion R of the wire arches 'J are covered with flexible rubber cushions S, which maybe made from short pieces of rubber hose.

To one game-board belong eight disks or men T, four of which are of one color and the other four of another color, but all of them of a size allowing them to drop into either of the pockets, from which they may, however, be shot out again by a shooter, as they are rounded at their edges and only about onethird of their body sinks into the pocket, as shown in Fig. 6.

The shooters or shooting disks U (shown in Fig. 3) are four in number and may be of a color different from either of the men.

never fall into the pockets. They are also The four radial lines G divide.

They I are larger than the men, so that they can lined around their periphery with a rubber band V to make it soft to the finger-nails of the players, who shoot the disks with the fingers. The flexible band V, as well as the flexible cushions S and I,also protect the whole apparatus from injury by friction, make it almost noiseless, and above all cause the disks to rebound and thus hit and move the men in various indirect manner.

I call my new game-board The Arena, without, of course, thereby indicating that others may infringe on my invention under cover of a different name.

On the arena may be played a great variety of games which cannot be played on any other game-board, but which I do not consider it necessary to here give all the rules for. I will, however, give the rules of one game as an example of the utility of the apparatus. Say two persons are playing. Each of them places his four men upon the four spots V nearest to him. The four shooters may then be placed upon the four lines G or any other points agreed on. Each player in turn then shoots with his fingers a disk against his opponents men,aiming to get them within the web, from the pockets of which the owner can only remove them by either shooting them out or redeeming them by shooting one of his opponents men into one of the outer pockets M. Men found upon the outer circle N are removed from the board. The rebounding of men thrown by the shooters against the cushions I, D, and S is much relied on for driving ones own men into the outer pockets and the opponents men into the inner pockets or into the outer circle. The player who first loses all his men from the field loses the game.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The circulargame-board having a rim or guard projecting above its edge and one small and one large circular line drawn about its center, with a large annular space between the two lines; a series of pockets beyond the large circle and an equal number of pockets inside the small circle, and a post at the outer sides of each of theinner pockets, substantially as set forth.

2. A circular game-board having the rim or guard B, the central post H, and a series of arches extending radially from the post and having their outer ends extended downward and secured in the board, a series of pockets located one under each arch, an equal number of pockets located near the rim of the board, in radial direction as between the pockets under the arches, said center post and the outer upright part of the arches being lined with rubber cushions, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

A circular game-table, having an internally-cushioned guard at its edge, a cushion-lined center post and eight cushion-lined.

posts arranged in a circle around the center post, to which their tops are braced by horizontal, radialwires; eight inner pockets, one under each arch, and eight outer pockets near the outer edge of the board, located in radial direction as between the inner pockets, the circularline K, at the outer ends of the arches and the circular line 0, dividing the board into three concentric spaces, of which the inner and outer spaces contain the pockets, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

a. A game apparatus comprising a circular board having a guard or rim at its edge and a large circle of pockets near the guard and a smaller circle of pockets near around its center, the pockets in each circle being of equal number, namely, eightpockets in each circle, and equidistant apart, and suitable shooters and disks 01' men adapted to be shot into and out of the pockets by the shooters, which are larger than the pockets, substantially as set forth.

5. The circular game-board, having the guard B, around its edge, the center post 1-], and eight radial wires or arches extending from its upper part and terminating in the cushioned posts S, secured to the board at equal distances apart, the circular lines K, and O, dividing the board into three annular spaces, eight pockets circularly arranged in the smallest space, one under each arch, and eight pockets in the outer space equidistant apart and located opposite the margins between the inner pockets, the four radial lines G, dividing the second annular space of the board into four equal parts, and the eight radial lines Q, dividing the outerannular spaces of the board into eight equal parts; all of said radial lines intersecting the outer pockets, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

6. The circular game-board, having the guard B, around its edge, the center post II, and eight radial wires or arches extending from its upper part and terminating in the cushioned posts S, secured to the board at equal distances apart, the circular lines K, and O, dividing the board into three annular spaces, eight pockets circularly arranged in the smallest space, one under each arch, and eight pockets in the outer space equidistant apart and located opposite the, margins between the inner pockets, the four radial lines G, dividing the second annular space of the board into four equal parts, and the eight radial lines Q, dividing the outer annular spaces of the board into eight equal parts; all of said radial lines intersecting the outer pockets, and the eight spots WV, opposite each of the arches, upon the circle 0, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature inpresence of two witnesses.

JOHN G. ERICKSON.

Witnesses:

THEO. STRATHMAN, F. B. DORR. 

